


Witches for Weasleys Year 5

by Spajuch13



Series: Witches for Weasleys [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-25 11:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4957843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spajuch13/pseuds/Spajuch13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The fifth year for the twins, Cas, and Jo at Hogwarts; including dementors, boggarts, hippogriffs, werewolves, animagi, and fear, the worst creature of them all. Notice: this work contains a change in rating and does include archive warnings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Year 5-1 POV Fred

We were together; we were laughing. Things were back to the way they’re supposed to be. Over the summer break we all sent each other weekly letters, saying little to nothing besides the fact that we were all safe and healthy and missing each other. After last spring’s fiasco with Ginny going missing, none of us were eager to go our separate ways; George and I even offered to have Cas and Jo to the Burrow for awhile. They declined, but promised to keep in touch. I’ll be honest- I was scared for the first week until I got the letter from Cas. She said something last year that really shook me- she said that it could have just as easily been her taken by the Basilisk. She was right, and that terrified me. It’s hard enough knowing she’s dating the violent and possibly psychotic Miles Mathers, but to think I might lose her in a more permanent way kept me up for a few nights.

We were laughing at Jo and George, sitting just the four of us in our train car on the way to Hogwarts, when it started. There were noises and grinding, and the train stopped. We looked at each other in confusion, and the confusion hasn’t subsided for a few minutes now. We’re all worried- the Express doesn’t stop for anything or anyone. All of us our peering out the window and into the hall of the train, but we can’t figure out what’s wrong. George and Cas are starting to panic a bit.

I decide to break the tension by pulling out my new crystal ball- I saved up all last year so I could buy myself a quality one for Divination this year. All of my cuts from the sales of our prank products got set aside exactly for this. Jo rolls her eyes when she sees what I’ve got- she isn’t a believer- but Cas’s eyes light up. I love seeing her get excited like that, it makes my heart and mind both race, until I remember Mathers; then my blood runs cold. Cas pulls her suitcase down from the rack over our heads and sets it on the ground like a makeshift table. I set up the ball and ask everyone to focus minds and hold hands. Jo grumbles and Cas laughs, both of them knowing neither of those things are remotely necessary for seeing. I take Cas’s hand firmly in mine anyway, and George gives me a look. The two of us are in a similar situation- wanting girls we can’t exactly have: Cas is with Miles, and Jo is with Oliver. I guess the girls prefer Keepers to Beaters. We've spent quite a few late nights trashing our respective rivals and pretending that we’re brave enough to actually express our feelings to the girls.

George kind of has investments in both Cas and Jo; he’s basically in love with Jo, obviously, but he’s also really worried about Cas’s situation, especially since the incident when Mathers beat the shit out of him in jealous warning to keep away from Cas. There was never anything real between George and Cas, but Jo was ignoring him so hard he kind of fell back on Cas. For awhile all of us were pissed, but we’ve all forgotten about it now. Now George and I have our separate missions, and we say we’ll help each other out. For instance, right now George saves me this moment of holding Cas’s hand by grabbing her other hand and Jo’s. It’s a small victory for both of us. Of course, small victories are by nature short lived, and I genuinely want to test my abilities and my new crystal ball out. Therefore I have to let go of Cas’s hand, and I do so with a millisecond of hesitation. I bite my tongue an d focus my mind, looking into the crystal ball. It swirls with mist- my mind isn’t completely focused, and for that I blame Cas- so I breathe deeply and block everything out of my mind. The fog starts clearing, but I don’t understand what I’m looking at; everything is still shadowy. Then I see it, and jump in shock.

“The hell?!” Cas exclaims, startled. Jo and George make similar comments.

“A fucking wolf! It jumped at me; it looked freakin’ huge- bearing its teeth and snarling and it jumped at me!” I explain.

“Well what the bloody hell does that _mean_?” George asks me, but I just shrug. I have no idea what it means. Tea leaves- they’re more symbolic; in tea leaf terms I’m pretty sure a wolf means something bad. Problem is, crystal ball readings are supposed to be a little more literal I think. I can’t imagine why I’d be seeing a wolf, though. Hagrid keeps a dog in his hut, but that was definitely not what I just saw, and last time I checked he didn’t have any wolves hidden away on the grounds.

“Well, look again- you probably just saw something wrong,” Jo says. I roll my eyes at her- you don’t just see something wrong; at least I don’t. I’m pretty talented in Divination, it’s my best class. Nevertheless I sit back down and reach for the ball again- and that’s when things get really weird.

I drop the ball as soon as I pick it up; luckily it’s a short drop and the thing is fine, not broken or anything. I look at my hands, which are bright red. The crystal ball was as cold as ice- I think it was covered in frost. I look up at everybody’s concerned faces, and I see that the window is frosting over too. I just point wordlessly, but George had already noticed and basically shoved Jo’s face into the window. At this point we can all feel it in the air, and Cas is shivering. The entire train is freezing.

I normally don’t mind the cold- I mean, no one really loves being freezing or anything, but normally it doesn’t get me down, but this is different. I sit there watching Cas shiver all pale and damn-near blue lipped, and all I can picture is her dead. I have no bloody idea why, but I can’t get the image of her dead body out of my head, and then as I try to forget the thought, it just shifts to seeing Ginny lifeless in that Chamber of Secrets. I feel the cold seeping way into me, like all there is to life is death, and losing the people you love. I look at George and all I think is how depressed I would be if he died. It’s so bad I can’t get myself to even try to force the thoughts out of my head. It’s the worst I’ve felt in my entire life.

Then just as suddenly as it came on, the frost lifts- not melts, but fades away. The cold just goes away, and so do the thoughts. I sit there frozen for a second, at once ashamed and frightened by what just happened. I shake it off and look at George again. He’s pale and his eyes look haunted. I’m guessing I’m a mirror image. Cas is still shaking, but I don’t think it’s from cold anymore. Jo looks pretty freaked out too.

“What the actual fuck, Fred?” She demands, staring at me. I throw my hands up in defense; I had nothing to do with that shit. Luckily Cas jumps to my aid.

“Dementors,” she whispers. We make her repeat herself, but that doesn’t help her with the volume.

“They’re creatures- they’re really fucked up creatures. They guard the wizard prisons; I have no idea why they’d be anywhere near here. They’re despair incarnate,” she tries to explain. We all sit in silence for a minute trying to mull this information over, but it’s not much of a comfort. I’d much rather forget about the dementors altogether. I reach down and pick up my crystal ball, inspect it for scratches, and put it back in my bag. Cas lifts her trunk back up to the rack over her head just as the Express begins moving again.

“Are you sure it wasn’t a dementor you saw in the vision?” George asks me. I make a face.

“I’m not blind, you wanker- I know the difference between a wolf and…what does a dementor look like, Cas?” She doesn’t respond, but I don’t prod, knowing I made my point. We ride in silence, none of us admitting exactly how the dementors affected us. The train lets out and we make our way to the carriages that take us to Hogwarts. The feast is tainted with bad feelings left behind from the Express, but the mood lightens with the announcement of a new Professor- Lockhart left last year after experiencing a ‘mental breakdown’. The new guy looks nice enough, maybe a little odd, but an overall improvement from last year.

I’m sitting with my friends at the feast, all fifth years, but Cas isn’t with me. As soon as she got into the building Mathers swooped in and took her away, with a little warning glare at me. I didn’t put up a fight, so I don’t think I have anything to be afraid of, maybe some extra drills during the first Quidditch practice, but that doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is watching her sit there next to him; he’s feeding her and she’s giggling and I feel sick. It’s stupid- she’s my friend and that should be enough for me. I don’t want to make out with her; I don’t want to take her to bed. I just want her back next to me at meals. I want her lying on the couch with me like that night last spring- she fell asleep and I just listened to her breathe. She kept me sane through that long night worrying about Ginny, and I don’t know why after a moment like that she’s with him and not me.


	2. Year 5-2 POV Jo

Things have really changed in the past couple of months- it started last year really, with all of the inter-House tensions, the attacks, and finally the night when Ginny got taken and attacked. Cas, the twins, and I had a really long talk that night, and it got pretty heavy. We aired most, if not all, of our grievances to each other, and we got a lot closer for it. Me personally, I vowed not to take my friendship with any of them for granted anymore. I think over the summer I really matured a lot, and since we got back to school I’ve really worked to maintain that maturity.

My main focus has been my relationship with Oliver. For starters- it’s the best relationship ever. He’s the perfect man, and I’m not too bad myself. But we’ve both been more than a little childish through the whole thing. It’s all been about how long we can hold hands, and how many times we see each other in a day, and teasing each other. It’s what they call the ‘honeymoon’ phase- everything’s all lovey-dovey and we’ve been in our own little world. But now we’re breaking out. We schedule our dates, and we don’t get all kissy in public anymore, no matter how much we want to. I think we’ve come to really respect each other a lot more. And because of all of this, I’ve been a lot better friend to Cas and the twins, especially George. I’ve been informed of how much damage I really did by him since I started dating Oliver, and I’ve fixed myself. Now I schedule private time with George, as well as the time we spend with Fred, Cas, and our various other friends. I take turns dining with Oliver and my fifth year friends. I do class work with the people in my classes instead of either having Cas do it for me, or have Oliver help me with it. I’m a new woman.

Today I set a date with Oliver. We’re not doing anything special- I just really wanted to walk down to Hagrid’s hut and see his Hippogriff again. I’ve been visiting it every chance I get ever since learning about it and meeting it during my Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid. I’ve actually really come to like Hagrid as a teacher and sort of as a friend- he’s basically the nicest person in this school besides Charlotte. But that aside, Hippogriffs are basically the coolest things in the world. They’re like amazing horse-eagles. Oliver laughed when I explained my love for Buckbeak, and he asked if he should be jealous. I, in all seriousness, said yes.

So we meet up and start down to Hagrid’s Hut. We talk about our classes and friends and about Quidditch. He’s actually got his broom with him now- he was doing some practices with the newest members of the team while I had class and was doing some work. After some escalating light teasing, I propose a race to the Hut and he ends up jumping on his broom and whizzing over. I’m athletic and very much in shape, but I cannot catch up to, let alone beat, someone flying on a broomstick top speed. I run as fast as I can anyway, and finally get to the Hut to find Oliver laughing hysterically at me. When I get to him I have to bend over to catch my breath, and he tugs my ponytail in his usually teasing fashion. I’m about to retaliate when I catch sight of Buckbeak and leave Oliver cold.

I go through the basic steps of befriending a hippogriff: bowing and presenting it with food. I feel like Cas might secretly be a Hippogriff on some level. As I finally get to the part of the process where I can pet Buckbeak, Hagrid comes out. I didn’t exactly tell him I was coming, or bringing Oliver, but at this point he’s used to me showing up randomly to spoil his pet. He finds me endearing in that way.

“Would you like to ride ‘im?” he asks me suddenly, and I’m shocked. “He seems to really like you, and I know yer a flyer, I think it’d be alright by him, if yer up fer it,” he continues, and I nod vigorously. Hagrid laughs his deep, belly-shaking laugh and unchains Buckbeak. He lifts me up and helps me get myself onto Buckbeak.

“Now, don’t pull any feathers- he’d hate ya fer that,” he warns, and I nod seriously. I look to Oliver, who’s wide-eyed himself. I realize I kind of ignored him after seeing Buckbeak. I kick myself for that- I’m treating him the way I treated George, and it’s wrong.

“I-I mean, I don’t have to go, since we’re on a date-“ I stammer. Oliver shakes his head and laughs, holding up his broom.

“I’ll come with you, ferret,” he tells me with a wink, and then we’re both off. The wind is in my face and I feel ever little move Buckbeak makes-it’s not like flying a broom at all, and I honestly can’t say which is better. Buckbeak flies through the dark forest, and I do next to nothing in the way of navigating. I trust Buckbeak. I keep reminding myself to look over to Oliver, who’s following as close as he can without spooking the Hippogriff. He’s grinning every time I look, so I’m not too worried about making him feel isolated or unwanted.

All of the sudden we break out of the dark forest, and we’re over the lake that sits on top of the Slytherin dorms. I gasp, seeing everything spread out before me. I cling to Buckbeak, careful not to tug any feathers or make him upset. Oliver flies up beside us and splashes some water our way. I laugh but don’t dare try to reach the water to splash back. Suddenly Buckbeak tilts his wing down, sending a spray back at Oliver, and I scream in delight.

We turn around and go back into the forest, but I can’t really tell if we’re taking the same path or a different one from how we came. It doesn’t bother me though, as long as Oliver’s keeping up. I’m looking back for him when suddenly I hear a bunch of tiny flapping wings, and a bunch of bats or birds or bugs or something rise up out of nowhere and Buckbeak flies right through them. Unfortunately for me, Buckbeaks eats basically any winged thing smaller than he is, and he jerks back to follow the flock of whatever they are in hopes of a snack. Unprepared for the change of course, I go flying.

The impact of hitting the ground is worse than any Bludger or Quidditch injury. I roll a couple of times before coming to a stop, and even then I’m afraid to try to move. I’m worried that I broke any number of bones, because my entire body feels sore. I lay face down, trying to find the strength to breathe; I know I can do it, but the fear of it being painful is preventing me from actually doing it.

“Jo! Jolene?!” I hear Oliver calling from above me. I feel the wind as he touches down and dismounts the broom, and he rushes over to me. He takes me by the shoulders and pulls me up, and I gasp in pain. On the plus side, this quick starts more regular breathing, and I get my wind back.

“Are you alright?” Oliver asks me, and I smile and nod. My neck doesn’t hurt, which is a good sign. I test all my limbs and various body parts- hands, arms, feet, legs, fingers, shoulders. Everything seems to be uninjured, and the pain is only dull now. It’s a good thing I didn’t try to stick the landing, or I might have broken my ankle or leg. Oliver hugs me tight to him and I starts laughing at his worry; he knows I’m tough enough not to be broken by a little tumble like that. He stops my laughter with a kiss. It’s passionate and he tastes salty; I must taste like dirt, and I laugh into his mouth at the thought. He pulls back smiling, and he’s looking at me with these eyes, and I just _know_ : Oliver loves me. I love him too. We don’t need to say it, and I know we both feel it. Suddenly there’s something else in his eyes, and he takes his hands off of me. He stands up and offers his hand. As he pulls me up I immediately fall into him and we’re on the ground kissing again. He’s on top of me, kissing my lips and my neck, and I unconsciously sigh with pleasure. He stops kissing me to laugh at the noise I just made, and I swat him on the arm.

“I’m ready,” I say. The words just slip out, but they’re one hundred percent true. I’m sixteen, I’m in love, and most importantly, I respect the hell out of Oliver. We’ve taken our relationship to a level of absolute trust and respect and love. I’m ready. He looks at me with these eyes that are hard with the severity of what I just said, but at the same time softened by so much emotion; he smiles and nods, and I nod back, and we start taking each other’s robes off. Then the clothes underneath. He’s kissing me all over, and I’m doing the same to him. I feel my heart racing and my breathing getting faster and faster. His hands slip between my legs and I sigh again. He kisses me fiercely one last time before we completely strip and give ourselves to each other on a makeshift blanket made of our robes. He’s gentle with me at first, but it still hurts, in the best possible way. Everything we do feels amazing; it’s the most alive I’ve ever felt, and the most gratifying thing I’ve ever done. When we finish, I lay with my head on his chest, breathing deeply. He runs his fingers through my hair absentmindedly as I nuzzle against him.

“I love you,” I tell him. He kisses me on the top of my head in response. We sit up and collect our clothes and get dressed. Oliver tries in vain to rebraid my hair, so I just put it up in a ponytail. Oliver and I get on his broom and search out Buckbeak, who isn’t too hard to find. Then we head back to Hagrid’s Hut to return the Hippogriff. We walk back to the castle in silence, holding hands. We don’t get looks anymore when we go around like this; people are used to us being a public couple. With every person that passes, I briefly blush. Oliver laughs at my embarrassment.

“What’s wrong?” He teases. I swat him repeatedly.

“I’m modest,” I say sarcastically, even though it is the exact truth and is the reason I’m blushing so uncontrollably.

“You weren’t exactly modest in the forest,” he mutters into my ear with a smirk. For once I don't blush, and I think Oliver is about as surprised as I am.

“Neither were you,” I smirk back, and Oliver laughs, kissing my head.


	3. Year 5-3 POV Cas

Fred and I shared a curious glance as Professor Lupin explained the lesson of the day: boggarts. Everyone fears fear; but not nearly as much as they fear honesty. The number of times ‘what’s your greatest fear’ has come up during the Slytherin bonding night after sorting is impossible to count, but neither Fred nor I have ever been asked. I look over to Jo, who’s whispering with George. I’m glad this is a Gryffindor/Slytherin class. I already know Jo’s fear, but I’m curious to see it play out. She’s been acting different lately, and I decide that after class I’m going to confront her about it. It’s nothing bad- in fact, this entire year she’s seemed to have grown a lot as a person. No more of that disgusting PDA with Oliver, and she’s making a solid effort to have separate time to spend with her boyfriend and her friend-friends. But in the past few weeks she’s been even more different, and I can’t put my finger on what’s changed.

I turn my thoughts back to the task at hand. In thinking about it, I honestly have no idea what my greatest fear is. Sure, I have rational fears of spiders, monsters, and all the usual, but I don’t know what I fear most in the world. I don’t think it really matters, as Lupin explains that a simple spell will get rid of it. I can handle a simple spell- hell, I can handle the more advanced stuff. I have the most control and talent of anyone in this room, save the professor. And as a professor, Lupin is one of the best. Snape is still my favorite, but there’s something about Lupin that I just trust. The problem is he’s not always in class for me to try and win him over. I don’t know where he goes, but every few weeks he takes a retreat or something, which I’ve never heard another teacher doing before. I let it slide, since it’s sometimes Snape that fills in for him. The other cool thing about Lupin is that he teaches us the hard stuff- the real Dark Arts, in a way. Like today, for example, we’re facing a real life boggart. These things will fuck some people up, but we’re learning about them hands-on. Quirrell and Lockhart would have been afraid to teach us something like this even just with books. Lupin is by far the best Defense teacher we’ve had yet.

We all line up to prepare for the task, and we fall in the middle of the line. Good- it’ll be good for us to see some demonstrations and know what to look forward to. Jo is the first of the four of us, then the twins, then me. Lupin puts on an old record and releases the boggart, who begins shifting and scaring. First it’s a giant snake, and then a murderous clown, then the room just goes black. No one has too much trouble casting the spell, and Lupin is pleased with the class so far. The line moves quickly and I feel my heart rate picking up a little bit. I try to think of the happy memory I’ll use to cast the spell, but nothing is coing to mind so I figure it’ll be a spur of the moment thing.

Next thing I know, Jo steps up to face the creature. It had been turned from a giant rat into a giant bunny, and it just stares at her for a second until it sort of spirals into itself, and becomes a werewolf. It stands seven feet tall with pale skin, red eyes, and sharp, jagged teeth. Jo doesn’t move at first, and the beast lifts it head up and howls before leaning over as if preparing to pounce on Jo. That’s the moment when she raises her wand and casts the spell, and the werewolf becomes a puppy dog. It rolls on its back for a tummy rub, but Jo knows better than to approach, and she joins her successful classmates in the back of the room. I try to get a look at her face, expecting pride, but instead her cheeks are red, and she may or may not be giggling. I’m about to point this out to Fred, but George has approached the boggart, and it’s beginning to change.

The puppy becomes the dead body of Fred. His eyes are glazed over, looking up at the ceiling, and his hands are lying limply by his side. I look at the real Fred next to me, and he’s shocked and scared. George is raising his wand, but I see his hand shaking horribly. It takes him a second but he casts the spell, and the corpse becomes a flower garden. George runs to the group of victors, not looking back.

It’s Fred’s turn to step up, so I pat his arm in support. He touches my hand just briefly, before I pull it back and he steps forward. The flower garden disappears, and then two bodies spring up- both very much alive. This time it’s George, and behind him is some hooded figure. The figure has a wand held to George’s neck, and I realize it’s a hostage situation. The figure lifts his wand as if preparing to cast a spell, and instead of raising his own, Fred lunges at the boggart. It evaporates for a second as Fred lands on the ground. Then the creature reappears between me and Fred, but even from the back I can tell something is different.

“You’re too late. You let him die. You didn’t save him,” the figure taunts. Fred looks horrified for a second, but he closes his eyes tight and I see him breathing deep. He raises his wand and casts the spell, and the hooded figure becomes a giant tree. Fred skirts around it and goes immediately to George, and the brothers embrace. I, along with the whole class, look at them. We’re all touched, and everyone gets a little boost of hope, seeing how much the twins care about each other.

I turn around to face the tree, but it’s gone. I’m staring at a mirror image of myself. I lift my wand, ready to cast the spell and be done with this, and the boggart me lifts her wand too. She opens her mouth, but instead of words, a painful gasp comes out. I lower my wand in shock, watching as this other me slowly gets paler and paler. She drops her wand and pulls back her sleeve, revealing long, deep cuts on her arm with blood streaming out. She screams and takes her robe off, trying to wrap it around her arm, when similar cuts appear on the other arm. She falls to her knees and a pool of her blood is forming around her- around me too. Her eyes- my eyes- start leaking tears, which too become blood, and this other me starts wailing in pain and fear. She’s frantically ripping up her clothes trying to stop the bleeding, and she reaches for her wand again. She raises it, but it just makes the blood pour out faster, and cuts start appearing on her cheeks and neck. She’s gasping for breath now, and coughing up blood, until suddenly she falls to the ground. I stand in shock, thinking it’s over and I find myself frozen to the bone- I can’t even lift my wand to cast the spell. I become aware that the record stopped playing, and Lupin is coming over to me. I look back at my corpse on the ground, in a puddle of blood, and I lift my wand. But before I can say anything the blood turns black and begins bubbling, and my corpse begins screaming again, her flesh burning. Lupin races over to me, but in that second I lift my wand and wave it haphazardly- I have to get rid of this thing. Lupin and a few other students get knocked back a bit, but my body is still there, still struggling and screaming. I feel tears running down my own face and I keep waving my wand, but it’s not doing anything. Every time I move my wand, the other me’s screaming just gets louder and louder, and I can’t focus. I fall to my knees and drop my wand, over and over again just begging the thing to stop.

Then Lupin comes back. He stands in front of me and the screaming stops, and all the blood goes away. I don’t see what the boggart becomes because he gets rid of it so quickly, and hastily tells the class that they’re dismissed. Everyone leaves, even Jo and the twins, upon further prompting from Lupin. He sits down next to me and pulls into a hug, my head against his chest. I’m not sobbing or even crying anymore, just shaking uncontrollably. He helps me get my breathing back to normal, and then pulls me to my feet. He puts his hands on my shoulders and looks me right in the eyes. I try to look away, but he doesn’t let me.

“It’s okay, Cassidy. It’s gone now. That boggart, do you know what it was doing? The thing you fear most?” I shake my head and feel more tears burning behind my eyes. I’m scared and embarrassed.

“You’re afraid of losing control. It’s obviously a very strong fear, the way it took over like that. I want to help you learn to control it, okay?” I nod my head, but I still can’t speak for fear that I’ll start crying again.

“Take the rest of the day off, okay? Tomorrow come and see me, and we’ll work out a schedule for-“ we’re interrupted by a banging on the door. Before Lupin can respond, it flies open, and Miles comes running in. He grabs me by the shoulders and tears me away from Lupin.

“Are you alright? What the hell happened, Cas?” He looks angry, and genuinely worried. Somehow it’s not comforting right now, and I look back at Lupin with baleful eyes.

“I lost control,” I whisper.


	4. Year 5-4 POV Cas

“You’re not the twin I asked for,” I say with a sarcastically teasing tone. George shoves my arm and I gasp, and he jumps back in worry.

“Fooled you,” I laugh, and he shoves me again. We’re in the Potions Dungeon. I just finished up with a tutoring session, but Snape made me hang back because he wanted me to make a potion for him. He didn’t tell me what it was; just gave me a list of ingredients and instructions. A quick glance revealed that it would not only be pretty difficult, but it would also be insanely time consuming. I really wanted to talk to Fred about some things; Jo and George too, but Fred first. Unfortunately my first year student couldn’t tell the difference, and sent me the wrong Weasley.

“Not every has your eye for telling us apart,” George tells me, but I just roll my eyes and keep working on the potion. “What did you want to talk about, anyway?”

“None of your business; although there is something I wanted to talk with you and Jo about too. Here- you have the Map? Or does Fred still have it?” I look at him after a second of silence. His face looks..well, it looks like he doesn’t have good news for me.

“Don’t freak out, Cassidy, but…we don’t have the Map,” he says before his hands fly up in a defensive position. If I knew what the potion did, I’d throw it in his eyes. I’m furious.

“Where the hell is it?” I demand, “Filtch? A professor? By god, George Weasley, I will not hesitate to kill you,” I snarl. He takes a few steps back before lowering his arm to make a clear explanation.

“You know Harry Potter?” I nod. “He- well, he’s a third year, see, but his awful muggle keepers wouldn’t sign the form so he could go to Hogsmede. He tried to sneak there using that cloak of his, and me and Fred saw him going on the Map. Took pity on the kid- we gave him the Map, okay? You have the bloody thing memorized anyway- we found all the secret passages there are to find. He needed it more than we do,” He explains. I take a couple of deep breaths before responding as calmly as possible.

“When exactly did you do this?” I ask.

“…before Christmas?” he tells me. I bite my lip.”Look Cassidy, it’s-“

“That was my Map. Not yours, not Harry Potter’s. It was-“

“It wasn’t your Map, remember? It was the Marauders’. It was time, okay? Let it go…also don’t kill me, it was Fred’s idea.”

I shake my head and take a few more breaths. I really did think of it as my Map, but George is right- it doesn’t belong to any one person; it exists for whoever needs it most, starting with those brilliant bastards called themselves ‘marauders’.

“You’re lucky you took this long to tell me. Fucking brilliant timing, in fact.”

“Why’s that?” George asks cautiously.

“Because after this, we may not need the Map anymore.” I then begin a detailed explanation of my plan, only to be spoken aloud in confidence. It’ll take time, and we’ll be risking our lives, and risking expulsion, and jail time too. It’s the best plan in the history of plans.

“Animagi?”

“Animagi.”

“And Jo and Fred are on board?”

“I haven’t told them yet. Are you on board?” He takes a second before nodding, but nod he does. We spend another hour discussing the details. I’ll be doing most of the leg work, but if we all agree to do this, we’ll all have to put a fair amount of blood, sweat, and tears into this. I’ve already done all the research, and have all the ingredients gathered. I show George my stash, and he helps me with the potion for Snape. I can’t tell exactly what it is, but I think it has to do with transfiguration. It’s not polyjuice though, and that’s the only potion I know with transformative properties for organic matter. George isn’t as concerned or as curious as I am.

“So…was this why you were looking for Fred? You were going to tell him first?” I don’t answer immediately when George asks this. Fact is, I needed someone to confide in, and it wasn’t about to be Miles, or George, or even Jo. I’ve been trying for months now to master my fear of losing control. Every week I have a meeting with Lupin. We talk, sometimes we eat, we meditate, and he has me face boggarts. In all the time we’ve been working together, I haven’t once been able to successfully cast the _Ridikulous_ spell. I was going to confide in Fred- I don’t want to look weak to anyone; not even Fred, but I feel like I can trust him with this.

I halfheartedly nod at George, but I know he can tell I’m lying. Luckily for me he changes the subject. “So, how’d you get the idea? And all the supplies?” he asks. Of course, that sort of relates to my main problem too: I originally got the idea of trying out an illegal and incredibly difficult spell because I wanted to prove to myself that I really am in full control of my powers. Of course, I’m not about to disclose this to my current company.

“First year I got jealous of McGonagall. The idea’s been in my head ever since. As for the supplies; a lot of under the table deals with the profits from those prank products you and Fred keep having me make before you sell them.” This makes George laugh because in all honesty, the Weasley’s products are a mjor underground hit at Hogwarts, thanks in part to my magical mastery of Charms and Potions. I think George is about to rebut when the door flies open.

“Hey Miles!” I jump to my feet, happy to see him. I go over and give him a hug. I completely forgot we were going to dinner together in Hogsmede. Time slipped away when George got me talking about all of my plans.

“What’re you doing here?” Miles demands from George. He does that sometimes- he can be a little overprotective of me. But on hearing this I can see George get…if I didn’t know better, I’d say he was scared of Miles. I get that my boyfriend is intimidating, but George is my friend, so I figured the two of them might have connected because of me. I guess because they’re rivals, friendship isn’t really in the cards.

“He was helping me with a project for Snape,” I tell Miles, who runs his fingers through my hair; he convinced me to keep the short, streaky punk style I had to adopt after a prank Jo pulled on me. Then he does something out of character- he takes me by the waist and lifts me up and kisses me deeply. I’m pretty surprised, and I pull back.

“Miles!” I gasp. He looks at me with hard eyes, and puts me down.

“Just showing my girl some love,” he says. I roll my eyes and pull him down to me so I can kiss his cheek.

“Not in front of the children,” I say playfully, and he takes my hand and starts pulling me out of the dungeons. I look back at George, who doesn’t seem amused.

“Clean up for me? You totally owe me for that thing,” I yell back at him as I’m pulled out the door, “And fill the others in on the plan, okay? We can meet up later to discuss!” With that I’m out of range, and I start keeping pace with Miles as he leads me to our dinner.

“Is everything okay?” I ask him once we’re walking through Hogsmede. He seems a little off.

“I was worried about you, ever since…And I didn’t like finding you alone with that Gryffindor.” He spits the last part, about George. I don’t know how or why, but Miles had one of the kids from my Defense Against the Dark Arts class report to him about my little incident with the boggart. He’s been worried about me ever since, and he keeps trying to get me to talk to him about it, but I really don’t want to. All I told him was that I lost control, but that I’m okay now. He doesn’t believe me.

“There’s a storm coming, and I want you to be with me when it hits,” he tells me. I have no idea what that means, and honestly it’s a little creepy, but I tell him that I’m always with him. He pulls me a little closer to him until we sit down to eat.


	5. Year 5-5 POV Jo

Preface: An excerpt from Chapter Nine of _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ :

 

No one said anything. The horrible truth sank into Harry like a stone.

“Diggory got the Snitch,” said George. “Just after you fell. He didn’t realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square... even Wood admits it.”

“Where is Wood?” said Harry, suddenly realizing he wasn’t there.

“Still in the showers…We think he’s trying to drown himself.”

 

* * *

 

Chapter 5-5 POV Jo

I know I wasn’t the only one who screamed when Harry fell. It was like time froze- he’s just hovering there, not focused on anything, and then he just drops out of the air like stone. Noone knew what to do, and for a second everyone just watched- then George and I raced over and caught him, just before he hit the ground. He may have died if we didn’t. I looked back up after we had, relatively safe and sound, and saw something I secretly considered a million times more horrifying: Diggory had caught the snitch. We lost the match. As I looked up I saw that prat looking down at us, and he started waving his hands: he wanted to call off his own victory, but we all knew that they had won fair and square. Fucking Hufflepuffs.

A bunch of people came over to check on Harry, and he got taken to the infirmary. He was still unconscious as they carried him off. I was scared, as were a lot of people, but I don’t think anyone really believes that Harry Potter, the bloody Boy Who Lived, could die like this. It doesn’t make sense. So a lot of people are running after him, making their way to the Infirmary wing. The team hits the lockers to change into our regular robes, and once I’m changed I realize I haven’t seen Oliver since the accident. I ask around, and apparently he immediately went to the prefect’s shower. Usually he’s pretty quick, but he’s still there fifteen minutes later. Something’s wrong.

As the rest of the team goes up to be with Harry, I have to find Oliver. I’m pushing and shoving my way to the locker room, cursing the twins for getting rid of the Map; it would come in handy right now, while I’m trying to get into the boy’s bathroom unnoticed and uninterrupted. They just had to give the damn thing away. I bite my tongue accidently and mentally curse myself. See, the problem is that I can’t really talk or be verbal in any way. A little over a month ago Cas approached all of us with a proposition: that we all become Animagi. It sounded scary, dangerous, illegal, and exactly like the kind of thing we should totally do. Part of the process is holding a mandrake leaf under your tongue for not a few hours, or a few days even, but an entire month. It has been a long motherfuck of a month. I can’t talk to my friends, answer questions in class, and it’s so uncomfortable. I wake up randomly in the middle of the night choking on the bloody thing; but if I swallow the leaf, I have to start all over. I’m not doing this for a second longer than I have to. I’m getting enough questions and weird looks as is.

Cas is actually doing most of the legwork, and having the hardest time. She has to juggle this with all her other work, plus her relationship with Miles, her tutoring, and her secret sessions with Lupin. I’m not supposed to know about them, but I followed her one week and sat outside the door while she went. She started screaming at one point and I nearly went in, but Lupin helped her calm down. I’ve wanted to approach him about it, but how can I when I can hardly speak? Which makes me wonder how Cas keeps doing those meetings. Unfortunately, I have more pressing matters to worry about, namely my MIA boyfriend.

I zip around until I find the prefects’ bathroom- no one in sight. Good. I hear the shower running, and realize that it’s true- Oliver’s drowning his sorrows; possibly drowning himself- he can be so melodramatic when we lose. Instead of knocking I just go right in.

“Wood? You still in here?” I shout. My voice echoes around the room. I’m not exactly prefect material, but if the girl prefects’ bathroom is half as nice as this, I might as well try for the spot.

“Bloody hell you doing in here, ferret?” He shouts back in response. I figure out which stall he’s in- it’s the only one currently in use- and stand outside of it.

“Are you trying to kill yourself? Or just the team’s spirit?” I accuse, half-seriously. My voice sounds muffled since I’m trying to keep the leaf in place.

“That was a robbery, Jolene! We deserved to win!” Instead of trying to speak again I just sort of grumble. The door to the stall swings open suddenly, and I’m faced with my naked boyfriend drenched in water. I jump back and look away.

“What was that?” He asks. I shake my head, still looking away. Then my very wet, very naked boyfriend takes a step closer to me and splashes me with water. I bite back a scream and hop a bit, but I still get wet. I look him in the eyes and glare, and his steely eyes match mine. Then he takes another step closer to me, take my cheeks in his cold hands, and kisses me. I pull back before he can figure out I’ve got mandrake leaf under my tongue.

“No kissing,” I mutter, knowing where this is going; where I want this to go. He nods, and I nod back, and he pushes me up against the bathroom wall. We’ve done it a couple of times since that day in the forest, but he’s always been gentle. This is different; he’s angry now. Not at me, but he’s really pissed, and he’s showing it. He tears my clothes off of me quickly, kissing my neck and pulling my hair. He boosts me up so my legs are wrapped around him, and I’m trapped between his body and the cold bathroom wall. He carries me into the shower stall where the water is still running, and we take our time getting all of our frustrations out. He doesn’t hold back, and every touch is explosive. When we both finish, I’m tired enough to fall asleep right there, but that’s obviously not an option.

Instead I have to put back on my now completely soaked clothes and we sneak as best we can back to the dorms. Luckily most everyone is still with Harry, and we only run into a couple of younger Ravenclaw kids on our way. Once we’re in the common room I make a distraction by knowing some vases over with my wand, giving us both the chance to run up to our respective beds. That night I get the best sleep I’ve ever had.

The next morning I eat with George. He looks mad…he can’t know, can he? I haven’t told anyone about me and Oliver taking things as far as we have. Fear rushes through me as I imagine all of the possible ways George could have found out. All of them end with me dying of embarrassment.

“You didn’t come see Harry,” he says. I look at him but don’t respond right away- he’s right, I never did. I was going to, obviously. The idea of my teammate- our seeker- hurt and lying up in the infirmary broke my heart. Not as much as the idea of my boyfriend sulking and totally freaking the team out though. At the end of the day I like Harry, but I love Oliver.

“I was scared to- I thought if I went there I might find him dead. As long as I didn’t go, he was still alive,” I respond. It’s not true at all, and I feel so incredibly guilty lying like that. The guilt actually supports my story, and George pats my shoulder.

“I’d be more worried about Oliver- he spent so much time in the showers last night the whole team was worried he was drowning himself.”

I promptly choke on my breakfast.


	6. Year 5-6 POV George

It’s the strangest thing: you’re simultaneously more ready than you think, but not nearly as ready as you should be, when the most important things happen in life. That’s how we are right now: Fred, Jo, Cassidy, and I. We’ve put in the blood and sweat, and maybe even some tears, and by hell we’ve put in the time. We’ve drank potions, chanted spells, and held bloody mandrake leaves in our mouths for a month. It’s finally time reap the rewards.

Now, ideally we would be doing at like midnight in the deepest part of the dark forest; instead, it’s lunchtime and we’re in the restricted section of the library. We’ve magically locked the doors, and Cassidy found a spell to make sure no one can hear what’s going on. Not ideal, but the best we can do. See, the castle’s been held basically hostage all year by the news that the mass murderer Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban and may or may not be targeting the castle and Harry Potter. Ever since Harry got to this school we’ve been having bizarre trouble and serious threats from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who last time anyone checked, died like a dozen years ago. But then he got reincarnated as like the hair on Quirrell’s head or something, then his ghost kidnapped my sister, and now his most devoted and psychotic follower is coming to finish what You-Know-Who started. Harry Potter is a crazy magnet.

So now there’s a curfew in place, and no one is allowed on the grounds unless they’re escorted by a professor, and yeah, we’re all scared. The Fat Lady got attacked a few months back, and she says it was Sirius Black, in the castle. That’s got everyone freaked, even those who don’t believe the Black rumors. The Fat Lady is like everyone’s really annoying drunk egotistical aunt, and we all love her. Now it’s personal.

Anyway, we can’t get to the dark forest, and we can’t get out at night, so instead we’re in the library while everyone is eating. Jo is hopping around with excitement, Fred is shaking his hands like crazy, psyching himself up, and Cassidy is very pale and very still. She’s been off her game all year, and it’s freaking us out. She’s even gotten in the habit of just following Miles around like a puppy when she isn’t doing work or meeting with Lupin. Jo told me and Fred how screwed up she is about the boggarts. I think this is her chance to get over her fear, although I don’t know what this has to do about dying a bloody death.

Jo does one last check to make sure the gates to the restricted section are locked, and that the spell Cassidy put on the area is working. She gives us the all clear, and it’s time to test our new abilities. All we have to do is wave our wands and say one last spell- apparently we’ll need our wands for awhile to properly change, since what we’re doing is in a way a giant, permanent spell. I don’t know how that will work if we need to change real quick or something, but I’m more worried about what animal I’m going to turn into once I wave my wand.

“You’re probably something stupid like a squid,” Fred jokes nervously. We’ve all spent more than a rational amount of time speculating what we’re each going to be. The only person we’ve got pinned is Cassidy- she’s a cat. Plain and simple. She only proves our point by hissing at us whenever we bring it up. She hates the idea of being a cat, but there’s no other animal we can think of that embodies her. She explained early on that you can’t pick your animal form; it’s got something to do with your soul. I’m still hoping that if I try really hard, I’ll be a dragon. Jo wants to be a Hippogriff for some reason. Fred and I, we’re just assuming we’ll be the same thing since we’re twins and all, and he’s down with being dragons.

We all gather together and decide to start. I volunteer to go first, since Cassidy for once is not volunteering, and Jo isn’t about to be a guinea pig. Or is she? But it was either me or Fred, and being from the House of the Brave and all, I decided to volunteer. Cassidy hands me a slip of paper with the incantation, and she gives me a really tight hug. I practice in my head a few times, take a deep breath, close my eyes, and raise my wand.

It’s painful, the transformation. Like every muscle in my body is being squeezed and compressed and set on fire and stabbed. I don’t recommend it. When I open my eyes again all I see are legs, I look up and see Jo and Cassidy with their eyes covered, but Fred is staring down at me bug-eyed. He shakes the girls silently, and when Jo opens her eyes she squeals and drops to her knees, reaching out to me. I take a step back and she squeals again in delight.

Cassidy is smiling too, which is reassuring. She grabs a mirror from her knapsack and holds it out in front of me: I’m a dog; a dappled basset hound, complete with a tuft of orangey fur on the top of my little head. I’m not as intimidating as I had hoped, but I’m damned cute. I go to ask Cassidy how to reverse the process, but instead of words, a deep bark erupts from the back of my throat. Jolene is dying of happiness, and once again tries to pet me. I snarl at her, but she just laughs. Cassidy then shows me the process of reversing the transformation, and after a couple of minutes I’m back to myself. Luckily for some unknown reason, clothes shift with you, so I’m not naked when I become myself again.

Next is Fred’s turn. I think he’s going to be a dog too, but he surprises us all by transforming into a little red fox. Little isn’t actually a great explanation- he’s probably the same size if not bigger than I am as a hound.

“A fox and a hound!” Jo exclaims, “You two are the cutest-“ Fred cuts her off with a little bark of his own. I didn’t know foxes bark, but apparently they do. It’s not like when I bark, which is all gruff and deep; his bark is high pitched and short. It’s pretty cool. It takes him a little bit longer to reverse the transformation, but when he does Cassidy basically jumps on him, hugging him tight. After she gets off I give him a high five.

Next is Jo’s turn, and she’s raring to go. She doesn’t need time to center herself or practice the spell; she just grabs the paper and her wand, and in a flash she shrinks and shrinks and shrinks, until all that’s left is a ferret. That’s right. A mother fucking ferret. No one can say anything. We just stare down at her wide eyed in shock. She must really love Oliver if he’s so affected her that she’s a ferret, just like he’s been calling her since the day they met. She makes a little noise- a squeak, really- and skitters over to Cassidy, who’s been in charge of the mirror. Cassidy looks absolutely terrified of her best friend, and she holds the mirror behind her back. This is the breaking point for me and Fred, and we both start cracking up. Ferret Jo looks up at us in what assume is confusion, and so I grab the mirror from Cassidy and show Jo her true self. Not a second later human Jo is back, redder than anything I’ve ever seen.

“No!” she shouts, causing the rest of us to laugh even harder; Cassidy has even joined the fun. There’s about five minutes of denial and teasing and Jo even manages to do another transformation again to make sure everyone saw right the first time. Needless to say, we did.

Finally it’s Cassidy’s turn, and we’re all a little nervous. Her fear is visible and damn near palpable. She opens her mouth, and I’m positive she’s about to chicken out, so I cut her off and start chanting her name. Jo and Fred pick it up too, but they cut it from “Cas-sid-y” to just plain old “Cas”. I’m okay with that this once. She, on the other hand, is not, and convinces us to “shut the bloody hell up”. We oblige and she takes a few deep breaths and reads the incantation over, practicing the wand motions. Her voice isn’t shaky like I expected it to be as she’s casting the spell, and the next thing any of us know, she’s no longer Cassidy the short skinny pale punk witch.

Jo is the first to laugh. I am the second. Fred is the third. Cassidy Walker, the polar opposite of physical or intimidating, is a giant motherfucking wolf. Sleek grey with- and I’m not joking- what looks like a couple of grey-green streaks behind her little wolf-ears. She starts whimpering, which just makes Jo laugh even harder.

“Can someone say ‘over-compensating’?” she wheezes, and that just about kills Fred. Cassidy is wiggling around, clearly uncomfortable, so I break down and show her the mirror. She looks into it and sits up, calmer now that she knows she succeeded. I try to put the mirror down, but she puts her paw up awkwardly- still not a coordinated being, even as a wolf- and makes me hold it up as she examines herself for another minute.

“Vain much?” Jo finally says, putting the mirror down. It takes Cassidy a minute but then she’s herself again. Her face is stained with tears, but not because she’s sad; she’s relieved. She did it; she beat her inner demon. We all hug her and head off to try and catch the tail end of lunch, carrying a new secret that bonds us together.


	7. Year 5-7 POV Cas

It still hurts every time I change, but I’m practicing every chance I get; every time I’m alone. It’s not easy- I’m pretty big as a wolf, and walking on four paws is hard. Apparently I’m still not graceful or remotely coordinated as a wolf. Despite all the small struggles, becoming an unregistered animagus was probably the best decision I’ve ever made. It fixed a lot of things I’d been worried were broken. The first meeting with Lupin after my transformation, I cast the spell that repels boggarts. Lupin damn near cried with pride at that; he and I have gotten really close during the past couple of months. That night I got the best sleep of my life. It was becoming a wolf that got me over my fear of losing control. It’s ironic because during my first few times as a wolf I had next to no control over my animal body- I had to learn to walk all over again. But apparently all of us are having the same general problems with our transition, so I’m not too worried.

The biggest problem about our transition is finding a place where we can practice changing and just being animals in general. Jo has the most leeway to practice because of her size, and the fact that ferrets, though uncommon, are a pet some people choose to bring as familiars. The rest of us stand out sorely, and in the case of Fred and me, we could easily be attacked for being predators. Things would be easier if we still had the Map, but the twins made the executive decision to give it away to Harry Potter.

It took me a few weeks before I recalled a valuable piece of information, and another few days before I gathered up enough courage to admit it to Jo. When I considered the time appropriate, I took her aside to an empty bench on the grounds, and related my news: During the past two years, Lee Jordan and I had taken some time to ourselves, without the twins or Jo. It was a decision we made based on a mutual embarrassment: I was embarrassed of my temper, which Lee witnessed blowing up when I nearly attacked another student in anger. Lee never told me what he’s so scared to share with the world, but that’s okay by me. He’s free to be himself with me, and through our private times together I’ve come to understand that a lot of his loud personality and excessive flirting and general vulgarity are a front to hide whatever secret he’s keeping.

I digress. I had seen a secret passage on the Map that I wanted to check out, and one afternoon when Lee and I were going out, I decided to try it out. It led us to what we soon figured out was the Shrieking Shack, a horror attraction connected with Hogsmeade. People don’t actually go there- you can just here it from a distance, moaning and screaming. Lee and I spent many afternoons sitting there, doing work, chatting, and just being ourselves. After Lee exposed my relationship with Miles, I admittedly became unfairly cold to him, and our trips to the Shack stopped. Now, I realized, the location could be quite useful.

Jo listened to my story with very little grace; she yelled at me, hit me, and constantly interrupted. That was fair. I asked her opinion, and she responded that I was “the biggest bloody wanker on the planet". I rephrased my question to get her opinion on using the Shack as a hangout and place to practice our transformations, and her mood changed; she became enthusiastic and excited and made the decision that the two of us should go up that very night to scope the place out. We did as much, and now tonight the two of us are making our second trip out.

The Shack is a lot different than I remember it, probably because I never came at night before. Now I understand why people never come here, and prefer just to make up scary stories about the place. It’s cold here, and dark, and dusty, and full of vermin. I can smell them everywhere- I’ll never be able to say that out loud. It’s disgusting being able to smell every little thing around you, but that’s why Jo and I are here. She being the more playful mastermind decided that to help us train in our new abilities we should play tag. I tried vetoing this suggestion, but she quickly turned into her ferret form, jumped on my arm, jumped promptly off, and ran into the darkness.

So now I’m a wolf, trying to pad quietly as possible on the creaking floorboards of this trashy place. With every step I’m afraid the floor will fall out beneath me, and I’ll die here. Yes, this place gives me that soul-deep pang that can only mean this will be the place I one day die.

I shake my shaggy head, banishing the thought, and begin to focus on trying to sniff out Jo. She smells distinctly of sweat and sugar, which strangely enough isn’t a completely disgusting combination to my wolf nose. I quickly pick up her scent, and I resist the urge to howl; there are so many instincts to fight as an animal. I quickly make my way towards her, and I hear the pitter-patter of her little feet trying to get higher ground. I look around the room- because obviously wolves have night vision- and see a pile of decrepit boxes. That’s where she is. I get close and pounce, and pin her in a heartbeat. In the spirit of victory I quickly turn away and run, as I am no longer ‘it’.

As a wolf I can’t really rely on finding a convenient little corner to hide in, so I decide to just move continuously and try to keep an open ear for little ferret feet on the move. I run down the steps to the first floor and creep along the walls as quietly as possible. A new smell surprises me- dirty, like all the others, but different somehow. I don’t dwell on it and keep moving. I hear Jo almost directly above me, and content myself to sit. I’m almost tempted to howl, if just to hear the sound of my own voice. I’m about to open my mouth when I hear a sound- a scream. Jo’s scream. Something’s very wrong.

I bound up the stairs, not bothering to change. I expect to find Jo hurt, or maybe stuck in animal form- it’s happened to all of us multiple times- but instead I see a giant black dog. Without meaning to, I growl, and the dog growls back. I look and see Jo, still a ferret, lying against a wall. That mongrel threw her. She must have jumped on it, thinking it was me, and it hurt her.

I square up with the dog and growl again, and without a moment’s hesitation I pounce. We roll a couple of times, trying for dominance. Finally the thing pins me and I find my teeth bared- I might even be foaming- as I snap up at it. I’m struggling beneath it, and as I wriggle I notice that in her unconscious state, Jo turned back into herself. I involuntarily whimper and start fighting not to get on top of the dog, but to get away from it. It notices my change in attention and sees Jo. It jumps off of me and before I can question what’s going on, I’m above Jo, licking her face and nudging at her chest. After a minute she moans and sits up; I keep looking at her, unable to speak and so concerned I can’t make myself change back. She looks and me with a faint smile, reaching out to pet me; until something behind me makes her jerk back.

I turn around, expecting that dog, but instead I see a man. He’s tall, shaggy, dirty, and looks sick. He takes a step towards Jo, and I bare my teeth again. I’m ready to take him on when I hear footsteps entering the Shack below us.

“Sirius? Sirius, are you here?” The man turns towards the sound, and I’m struck with the realization of who is standing before me: Sirius Black: mass murderer, escaped convict, and the reason Hogwarts is in lockdown mode. Jo tenses behind me- I can hear her heartbeat speed up and her breathing become shallow.

“Is that…Professor Lupin?” She whispers. She’s answered by Lupin himself, who walks up the steps to find not only Black, but one of his students, and a wolf. Upon surveying the scene he looks like he’s had a heart attack, and the four of us are silent.

“Remus, what the hell is this?” Sirius finally says. Jo jumps to her feet but Lupin tells her to stop, and she does. He walks very slowly over to us, and Jo sinks to the floor in fear. I feel my fur bristling, and I keep myself as a barrier between Lupin and Jo. He gets right in front of me and gets on his knees. I growl and nearly snap at him, but he takes my head in his hands and looks me in the eyes.

“Oh, Cassidy, what have you done?” he asks sadly. This sadness scares me more than anything else- it sounds like regret; like he’s about to do something bad. I feel myself change back into human form, and Lupin has his hands cupped around my cheeks now. I’m as small and helpless as I feel. I’m really going to die here…

“Lupin?!” Black exclaims, “Who the hell are they?” and then Lupin stands back up and embraces the man, laughing.

“They’re almost as stupid and reckless as we were. Look at her- an animagus.”

“The other one is too- a ferret. Girl jumped me and I…well, I nearly killed her. I’m sorry, girl. Really,” he directs at Jo, who still is silent.

“Professor Lupin, that’s Sirius Black, the convict. He’s a murderer,” I say. Black’s head falls, and Lupin comes back over to myself and Jo. He puts his hand on my shoulder, but I pull away. I don’t- can’t trust him anymore.

“Oh, Cassidy, why are you so difficult? I need you to listen and to understand- you as well, Jolene. This is important for you to hear, and more importantly you must never repeat what you hear. This man- yes, Sirius Black, is an innocent man, and my closest friend in the world…” and thus began the most fantastic story Jo and I ever heard.


	8. Year 5-8 Mult POV

Jo

Some people claim that goodbyes are the hardest and most painful things in the world. Those people are obviously doing something wrong. The year is over, and everyone is leaving in a couple of days. Exams are completed, bags are packed, and goodbyes are in the process of being said. I’ve said all but one, because I don’t know how to say this final one.

Oliver and I decided to meet on the pitch. It’s appropriate- it’s not where we met, of course. It’s not where we first began dating, or consummated our relationship. It’s the place where we had our absolute best times. It’s our place.

It’s time to say goodbye to Oliver, but I don’t know if this is goodbye for now, goodbye for the summer, or goodbye forever. I don’t know about Oliver, but I never thought this far ahead- I never really took into account the fact that he’s older than me, and won’t be back at Hogwarts next year. This wouldn’t be a problem if we weren’t dating, but we are. We’ve been dating for a pretty long time, and it’s a serious relationship. Today we find out whether it will last, or if it’s over. I don’t particularly want to make the decision; I’d much rather Oliver stay at Hogwarts forever and nothing change at all. The downside to this, of course, would be that I’d never get my turn as Quidditch team captain, a title I think I more than deserve at this point.

I look down at him as he enters the pitch- I’m up in the commentator’s booth, and he’s quickly by my side. He kisses me hello like usual, even though this meeting is anything but. I don’t want to start the conversation, so he does.

“I’m not coming back next year,” he says. It wasn’t a particularly helpful or insightful thing to say, but it was very Oliver, and at least it opened the door for what we need to talk about.

“So what does that mean?” I ask. In all honesty, I’m not expecting anything. Long distance doesn’t exactly appeal to me. I don’t want to say it though, since it sounds kind of insensitive; like I wasn’t as invested in this relationship as I was.

“It means I won’t be here, and that you’ll have to carry the team in my absence,” I nod. It’s decided then. He’s said his peace, and made his point clear. Now, most people wouldn’t agree that’s he’s made a clear point, or any point at all, but Oliver and I understand each other on a deep and unexplainable level. To formally break up with me would be an insult to both of us. He’s said all he needed to, and now it’s my turn.

“You’re leaving me a bloody hard choice in finding a new Keeper,” I say with a smile, nudging him. He laughs loud, and it echoes around the pitch. I rest my head on his shoulder, and he gives my braid a light pull. The hair tie falls out and he fumbles to try and rebraid the hair. He’s about to give up and put my hair in a ponytail, when I take his hand and just put the tie around his wrist. I shake out my hair and he laughs again as a long stand gets caught in my mouth.

“You were always more graceful on the pitch than off,” he jokes, and I give him a playful shove. He retaliates by leaning in for a kiss. “One more go, before I leave?” he says, eyeing my robes. His playful grin tells me he’s still joking.

“You pig! You only love me for my body,” I cry in mock-distress. He pulls me into an embrace.

“Is that what we are? A pig and a ferret?”

“We may very well be.” He snorts like a pig and I burst out laughing.

“I love you, Oliver.”

“I love you too.” We left the pitch, and went our separate ways. I was, putting it indelicately and insensitively, a free woman again.

 

* * *

Cas

I find goodbyes inconvenient and often insincere. The more sincere a farewell, the more permanent it will be. If you pour your heart out to someone as you part with them, you’re not simply saying goodbye, but you’re saying ‘I’ve decided that our relationship shall go on no longer; I am cutting you out of my life’. The less sincere a goodbye, the less necessary it is. The whole affair is rather draining.

Today, unfortunately, is one of those days when goodbyes are necessary for the sake of appearances. No one wants to be the bitch who doesn’t say goodbye. So I made my rounds, promised I’d write, or see people next year. There were tears, but none on my part; there were hugs I was forced into; and just as I thought I was finished, the one person I didn’t want to have to talk to approached me and took me aside. Miles and I have been dating a long time, and therefore this goodbye is rather important; Miles is graduating, and therefore leaving, and in all probability we’ll never see each other again. This of course means that there may very well be a long and sincere farewell to be made.

Miles takes me outside to the grounds where we can be alone, and he sits me on a bench and stands looking down at me. I stare up at him, trying my best to look rather indifferent to the whole affair. Too many things have happened to me in the past year- in the past month- for me to be able to handle another at this moment. I would have been content if Miles had left my life without a word, instead of taking the trouble to break up with me formally.

So he continues to stare down at me in his intimidating way, and I can tell by his glare that he expects me to make the first move, since he set up our meeting. Fine, he can have it his way.

“I don’t love you, Miles,” is all I have to say to him. I say it without breaking eye contact, and don’t really know what to expect as a response. People have been telling me since we started dating that he is violent and might hurt me if I don’t watch myself. They don’t just mean me to beware emotional pain. So this was a risky thing for me to say, but I said it anyway. In response, Miles laughed at me, quite amused.

“That’s fucked up thing to say out of the blue, Cas,” he says with a smile, and I’m confused.

“You brought me here to break up with me, right? Well, I don’t love you, so no need to be gentle. Go on, then,” I tell him, and he sits down next to me and pulls me into him. I can hear his heart beating through his robes- calm as anything.

“I didn’t bring you here to break up with you, Cas. Actually, I wanted to make you a proposal.” On hearing this I throw myself out of his arms and jump to my feet, shocked and appalled.

“I just told you I don’t love you, Miles! I’m sixteen, for fuck’s sake! I’m not going to marry you, or anyone else for the matter!” He starts laughing at me again, and I feel silly. He wasn’t proposing marriage…it makes a lot more sense that way. He takes my hands and I sit back down next to him, looking into his eyes for an explanation.

“I love that mouth you have on you. You make vulgar seem cute. But Cas, let me be serious a minute. I’m not coming back to Hogwarts next year, and I don’t want you to either. I’ve found a job of sorts…a special group of people who are going to make the world a better place. Powerful people. I’ve told you a storm is coming, and I want to be on the front lines when it hits. I want you to be by my side. You’re powerful, smart, and I think you and I have similar…values. These people, they’ll be happy to take you in and train you. I’ll be happy to. What d’ya say, Cassidy? Be my girl a little longer, even if you don’t love me? These people can give you more power and influence than you could ever imagine.”

This was in no way what I was expecting to hear while Miles told me he had a proposal to make. Not go back to Hogwarts? Leave my friends and family for power, influence, and the chance to change the world? I let my head fall back into Miles’s chest, and I listen to his heartbeat again. I smile to myself before sitting back up and looking at Miles.

“Well? What are you thinking?”

“I can’t go with you, Miles. Not yet. Let me finish my studies first. These people will want me more in two years time. The storm’s not coming before then, is it?” He shakes his head and stands up. He kisses me on my forehead.

“Until then,” he whispers, and walks away.

I don’t follow him. I don’t cry or feel any regret. In fact, I smile to myself. I have a secret: I know where Miles is going; I’ve heard of this group before. Lupin told me about a group of people determined to change and protect the world. Powerful and influential people, like himself. People have been saying Miles is a bad person- he’s dark and secretive and aggressive. I’ll make them eat their words. Miles is going off to put his life at risk to save theirs from evil and from danger. Miles will fight their battles while they sleep, for no thanks or reward. And, in three years time, I’ll be fighting by his side.

"Until then," he told me; a short goodbye. I smile, knowing that Miles is not out of my life forever, or even for long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This marks the end of the group's fifth year at Hogwarts. Look for the next update under a new work for Year 6. Thank you for reading and please tell all your friends to read too.


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